She survived brain cancer, but the bullying at school was just too much.
An 11-year-old girl in Cable, Ohio died by suicide last month after being relentlessly taunted, her family told CNN.
Schoolmates teased Bethany Thompson over her curly hair, as well as her crooked smile — the latter of which was caused by nerve damage from radiation treatment, said her mom, Wendy Feucht.
After a bad day at school on Oct. 19, the girl came home and shot herself. Her stepfather was sleeping in another room.
Wendy Feucht and her daughter Bethany Thompson, who died Oct. 19. (Photo: Wendy Feucht/Facebook)
Feucht told CNN she and her husband never told their children where they kept their guns, so Bethany would have had to have gone searching.
The girl had told a friend on the bus about what she intended to do, Feucht told the Columbus Dispatch.
“She told her [friend] she loved her and that she was her best friend forever, but that she was going to kill herself when she got home.”
Feucht told the Dispatch she knows bullying drove Bethany to do what she did, saying a friend told her they’d been taunted endlessly that day.
“I think that she was just done. She didn’t feel like anybody could do anything to help her,” the mom said.
Bethany Thompson's memorial service was held Oct. 24. (Photo: Vernon Family Funeral Homes)
Bethany was in grade six, according to her obituary. She loved swimming, music, and Pokemon. She also looked forward to going to church camp.
Bethany's dad, Paul Thompson, told WHIO he was supposed to take her out for dinner the day after her death.
“I just didn’t realize the extent of [the bullying],” he said.
“She always happy when she was with me."
“I think that she was just done. She didn’t feel like anybody could do anything to help her." — mom Wendy Feucht
Triad Local Schools Superintendent Chris Piper told the Dispatch he was aware that Bethany had been bullied last year, but said he didn’t know of any recent incidents.
But four years ago, a 12-year-old boy at the middle school also took his own life, the paper reported.
Thompson family friend Ashley Cozad organized a benefit event on Oct. 30 to raise money for Bethany's headstone, as well as a scholarship fund.
The event will also raise awareness about bullying, according to WHIO.
"My daughter is 10 years old, she's in fifth grade, Bethany was in sixth, so as a mom, it's awful," Cozad told the broadcaster.
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